The Deity Entertainment Network

*Thump-ta-ta-ta-ta, Thump-ta-ta-ta-ta, Thump-ta-ta-ta*

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*Thump-ta-ta-ta, Thump-ta-ta-ta, Thump-ta-ta*

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*Thump-ta-ta, Thump-ta-ta, Thump-ta*

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*Thump-ta, Thump-ta, Thump-ta. BANG-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta*

"Damn it..." John said, wiping the sweat from his brow.

He was pounding his frustrations out on this bag for nearly three hours, trying to maximize his current dose of Substance X. He was getting faster now; he could feel it. His body was getting boosted from the party menu as well, Rumi being somewhere within a hundred metres of him. She hadn't come inside the dojo for some reason, so he left her to whatever she was up to and continued to train.

He stepped up to the heavy bag and started practicing kicks, methodically at first, following the forms he had been taught. He focused on the training, trying to perfect the motions, ingrain the movements. He avoided thinking about the woman he left in tears, about the hurt look on Mei's face as they left. It was some tough love that Yu needed, to take time and focus on improving herself, then find the love she was craving.

Focus. It was the key.

*Thump, Thump, Thump*

Kick harder, maintain focus, and place it where you envision. Repeat.

He had brought up Rumi's status window earlier, curious about what a superhero's stats would look like. He was regretting it now, not wanting to compare himself to her. She was holding back when they sparred; there was no other way he could see that he was able to land a hit.

[Name - Rumi]

[Race - Human]

[Age - 26]

[Sex - Female]

[Level - Nil]

[Experience - 0 (100% Boost From Party)]

[Stat Points - 0 (100% Boost From Party)]

[Condition - Healthy]

[Current Horniness - 95/100]

<Open For More Detailed Stats>

[Stats]

[Strength - 450]

[Reflex - 654]

[Speed - 524]

[Endurance - 600]

[Intelligence - 17]

[Wisdom - 37]

[Luck - 35]

[Relationship Stats]

[Love - 80/100 (Devoted)]

[Lust - 85/100 (Passionate)]

[Loyalty - 75/100 (Committed)]

[Skills]

[Quirk - Rabbit]

[Greatly Enhanced Strength, Speed, Reflex, and Endurance]

[High Pain Tolerance]

[Enhanced Instincts and Intuition]

How in the hell do I compete with that? And those other things... How does she feel this way about me already? No. Focus. Keep your form.

She was a bloody demigod, and he was just a human... a human with a large bag of tricks.

He didn't open Yu's or Mei's. He assumed Yu would be something similarly crazy, and he didn't want to see if DEN was tracking Mei's... extra stat.

*Thump, Thump, Thump*

He kept at it for another hour before calling it quits and making his way towards the house, intent on having a quick shower before going to bed.

"I went to all that trouble to convince myself to accept you with another woman, to be willing to share you with her, and you turned her down. Told her to improve herself, then try again later." Rumi said from somewhere. He looked around but didn't see her, the cloudy skies preventing any moonlight from illuminating the yard.

"I'm not a big fan of having my freedom of choice taken away from me. Besides, she isn't ready for a relationship." He said, stopping in the middle of the path. If he had to guess, she was on a tree limb somewhere above him.

"Hah, I guess we are both the same like that. When I suggested to Yu that I'd accept her with us, I never thought you would turn her down and pick me. Why would you? She is young, beautiful, and is literally the heir to the most powerful family in Japan. I'm just a hero with a middling Quirk, a Quirk that has deformed my body. I'm not smart, prone to making rash decisions when my blood is up. My only good trait is my self-discipline."

"Rumi, you'r-"

"Please, let me finish. I'm not self-deprecating myself, I'm just being honest. I worked damn hard to overcome my weaknesses, but in the end, I've already reached my peak. I know this, and have no shame in it. Now that I'm getting a little older, I want something more out of life. I want a successor, someone I can teach how to fight and show what a hero should actually stand for.

I want a partner, one who is as powerful as I am, but who can steady out my impulsiveness. Someone who accepts me as I am and helps me become an even better version of myself." A dark shadow landed in front of him, Rumi's red eyes flashing up at him despite the dim lighting. "I want that partner to be you, John. I'm not the brightest person, but it doesn't take a genius to know that someone like you is destined to change the world. Hah, maybe more than one world. Do you have dozens of women at your beck and call in these worlds you're travelling to already? Where do I fit in with that, John? What am I to you?"

"Rumi. I won't lie to you and say I don't have other women in most of the worlds I travel to. In some of them, I have several, all in different stages of a relationship with me. As of right now, while I'm in this world, time is frozen in the other worlds. So when I'm here, I'm focused on the people in this world." He replied, trying to buy some time while he thought about her actual question.

What is Rumi to me? When she offered me a place to stay so I didn't get locked into some lease in case I lost my job, I was thankful and thought it was just her being nice since she had assaulted me. Then she agreed to train me in return for keeping the place tidy. It was a transactional deal, nothing more. Since then, we have grown closer, and the teasing with the kiss when I landed that first hit has grown into many kisses. She is affectionate, in her own exuberant way, and her enthusiasm for training is infectious.

"I love how focused you are, your passion for whatever you put your mind to. I would love to form something more than whatever this is we already have, Rumi. As to where you fit in, where do you want to fit in?"

She leaned on his chest and sighed, her arms wrapping around his torso. "I don't know. I just want to know I'm special to you. That I won't get forgotten when more beautiful, more feminine women are vying for your attention."

"Hah, you're impossible to forget. And just because you have muscles doesn't mean you're not beautiful. I think you're gorgeous."

"And the rabbit ears and tail? Doesn't that bother you?"

"Not in the slightest. In some of these worlds, there are rabbit races that look almost exactly like you."

"Really? Wait... Do you have a woman in another world that looks like me?" She asked, stiffening up a bit.

Crap. Well...I might as well be honest... seems to be a day for honesty.

"Yes. Her name is Nanaella. She is an adventurer, a powerful fighter, in my party in one of these worlds... and is my fiancée there."

He braced for an explosion, or something, with the fact that even looking like a rabbit wasn't something unique about her. Instead, she surprised him with a question that almost sounded like she was pleading. "Do you think I could meet her someday? I'd like to meet others that look like me... or people who don't think I'm some cosplayer."

"That depends on a lot of things going right, but I don't see why not."

"Good. Good." She whispered, nuzzling his chest. "It's late, I'm tired, and my brain is cooked trying to wrap my head around everything. Let's go to bed and talk about it more tomorrow, okay?"

"Sure." He replied.

They walked inside the house, then separated in the hallway by his room. He took a quick shower and tossed his gi into the washer/dryer combo, which spun silently. Wrapped just in his towel, he returned to his room in the dark and then crawled into his bed. That was when he realized he wasn't alone.

"Rumi? What are you doing here?" He asked.

"You beat me in a fight, John. I told you, I would marry the man who did that."

"I could only do that because of the sword. I would have to use magic or my other sword to have a chance at beating you any other way."

"I know, and I plan on holding you to beating me hand-to-hand before I give you everything. I'm not ready for anything sexual yet, but... can we sleep together tonight? I...want to be held by you."

"Are you okay?" He asked, crawling into the bed beside her. "You seem... a little off."

"Just... a little overwhelmed. Can we talk tomorrow? I need to get my emotions in order." She replied, then shifted herself to be in a little spoon position.

"Sure." He said as he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her in close. He could feel her tail pushing his belly a little, her naked body pressed against his. He cupped one of her breasts with his hand, but didn't squeeze it, just held it. He kissed the top of her head. "Good night, Rumi."

"Good Night." She said. She sounded content.

Sports Field

"This seems a rather unique take on capture the flag," Nezu said, looking at the concrete tower that had been hastily constructed in the centre of the sports field. On either side of the field, the students of class 1-A and 1-B stood wearing their gym gear. They all wore a bracelet on their wrist, which would light up when it received a signal from the instructors.

"Well, I didn't want them getting hurt before the sports festival tomorrow. This will require the more powerful Quirk users to be more precise when using their powers, else they will lose."

"I approve. Midnight, will you start the first relay, please?"

"Of course!" She said. Midnight, or Nemuri Kayama, was a taller woman, probably in her thirties, with long, black hair and a curvaceous figure. She was wearing a tight-fitting white spandex suit, a breastless black leather leotard, with red gemstones running down the centre of her body. She had an oddly shaped flogger at her waist and a small red mask resting on her brow.

He wasn't sure what to make of her yet. Like Yu, she seemed to be sexualizing herself as a hero, but so far, she has been nothing but confident and highly professional. He would withhold judgment on her for now.

I mean, everything is covered, but at the same time, it doesn't leave anything to the imagination. Seems very odd to wear that at a school.

She spoke into a microphone, her voice amplified over a set of nearby speakers. "Students of 1-A and 1-B! Take your places. As discussed, you will be assigned teams of four at random. Your goal is to grab the egg at the top of the tower and bring it back to your side of the field without breaking it or the other team stealing it. If your team wins, you will be let out of school early today, so try your best. However, if you're naughty and break the egg, I'll be punishing the offending teams during detention this afternoon, personally. Get ready, start!"

"Really? Punishing them?" John said as the first relay was activated.

"We are letting them all off early. I was just having a little fun." Midnight replied.

"I'm not sure what you have been doing to them, but half of the boys look terrified, and the other half now look like they are looking forward to losing." John joked, though there was a significant number of boys who were glancing her way with... odd looks on their faces.

"What can I say? I have that effect on strapping young men. Whatever they think of me, they pay attention in my classes, and their marks show it. Now, excuse me, I need to pay attention to the action. This is letting me practice for tomorrow."

John left her to it and just sat back and watched. She was the referee for the training; her Quirk could put people to sleep if the students got out of hand. There was a real possibility of things going badly, since class 1-B was still harbouring jealousy toward 1-A because of the U.S.J. attack and wanted to prove themselves against them.

John was at his wits' end about how to deal with it, having already tried to talk with them in the mornings a couple of times to no avail. He decided they could air out their grievances a bit during this joint training this afternoon, hopefully releasing some of the building resentment before they were in front of the cameras tomorrow. Not that it wasn't already being live-streamed by at least a dozen different phone cameras.

Along with Nezu and Midnight, a significant number of students and staff had turned out to watch the training this afternoon, most classes already having been cancelled so people could prepare for tomorrow's sports festival. They were here watching the show, wanting to get a look at the two hero classes in action before the main event tomorrow. Thirteen was also here, standing next to Recovery Girl, the pair of them chatting quietly while they waited in case either of their services was needed.

He thought about approaching her now, but chose to focus on the students instead, finally getting to see them all use their Quirks in action.

After the first ten seconds, he was now having second guesses about how effective the training was going to be. The sports field had become a battlefield, with different powers flying around everywhere. 1-A had tossed the kid who made a bunch of sticky balls to the top of the tower, then charged towards the students of 1-B and started to fight them hand-to-hand. The kid wrapped the egg in a bunch of those balls, then tossed it to the side just before he was pelted with a bunch of cattle horns from a girl on the other team.

The kid in 1-A who could turn his skin into rock caught the ball, but was immediately clocked by another kid whose body seemed to turn to steel. They got comically stuck together from the sticky balls and started to punch each other with their free hands. A girl ran up to the pair of them and touched them, causing them both to float, but they didn't stop beating on each other. Then the kid with engine legs ran up to them and started to run the pair of them back to their goal line, but was stopped when vines burst from the ground and wrapped the three of them up. Another girl on 1-B, with long, green, vine-like hair, was standing behind their goal line, her hair extending into the ground. She began dragging the trio to the goal line while the girl with the horns pelleted the girl who could cause people to float.

The crowd was screaming, cheering for both sides, but before they had been pulled across the line, Midnight announced from the speakers. "Team 1-A wins. Minoru Mineta successfully brought the egg back to the goal! What a good boy he is, you deserve a reward!"

John looked at her, then to where she was pointing. The short kid who was knocked off the tower was holding the egg above his head, showing it off to the crowd.

"That was most impressive, don't you think, Mr. Wayne?" Nezu said, sipping on a cup of tea. "I'm quite pleased you helped Miss Yaoyorozu refine her ideas and brought them to my attention. If the remaining relays continue like this, we should consider holding additional joint training classes on Saturdays. I believe it will continue to hone our students' ability to think on their feet."

"Yes, it was impressive. I'll hold my judgment on how effective it was until I talk with some of them afterwards." He replied. It did seem effective, though he could already see that without a designated leader, there could be some headbutting within the team. He made note of it then returned to watching as Midnight announced the start of the next round.

They ran through the relays several times during the afternoon, needing to pause only a few times for Thirteen and another instructor named Cementoss to clean up the field and rebuild the tower. Cementoss had an interesting Quirk of being able to manipulate existing cement into any shape he wanted. Unfortunately, it also made him look like a walking slab of concrete.

Some of these Quirks are really messed up. Like that kid has the head of a bird, and that one the head of a praying mantis. How would you live a normal life like that?

Normal or not for this world, he resolved once again to help any of them out who needed it.

By the third set of relays, the students seemed mostly out of steam, so Nezu decided to call it for the day. Momo ran over to John and bowed her head to him.

"Thank you for supporting my ideas, Mr. Wayne. The other students of 1-A loved the challenge." She said, sounding reserved, but had a big smile on her face.

"Give yourself some credit, Momo. It was your idea, I just cleaned it up a bit." He replied, smiling back at the young woman. "Just be confident in yourself and your abilities, and you will go far."

"Right. Will do, John. Oh, by the way, I helped make some parts of your hero costume. No extra charge. I hope you like what I came up with. Now, excuse me, I want to see how 1-B liked it before they all go home. I'll tell you all about it on Monday!" She replied, then gave him a very quick hug before she darted off before he could question her about that.

"CATCH!" A voice shouted, and John turned to intercept a familiar pink-haired missile. "Are you ready to go? Mom said she was cooking tonight at your place, and I wanted to examine those things again!"

I guess she isn’t as hurt about last night as I thought.

"Yeah. I think I'm done. She said she is cooking?" John asked, holding Mei in a princess carry as her boots were winding down again. He would have to speak to her about always doing this to him soon. He thought of the precious steaks he had in the fridge, but guessed they could wait for another day.

"Yep! She and Rumi had a fairly quiet day, looking for a new building to house their agency's headquarters." She said, then blushed a little. "I may have called Grandma to help grease the wheels. Please don't tell Mom. She doesn't want to accept our family's help, but our finances are not the greatest since she is still paying to repair a few buildings. Rumi's finances appear to be fairly significant, considering she is just a hero, but she shouldn't have to break her life savings over a rundown building she was looking at."

"Were you spying again?"

"Only for a good cause! I swear!"

"I'll keep it a secret this time, but you will stop it, or else I will tell your mother all of it. Got it?" John said sternly.

"Aye, aye, coach!" She said and gave him a mock salute with her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth.

John chuckled and sat her down. They left the school then, Mei excitedly chatting about some inventions she had come up with while watching the students during the capture the flag event.

Midnight watched them leave, shaking her head.

He seems close to a couple of the teen girls. I'd better watch out for them.

"Mistress Midnight, can we go home now?" A boy said, kneeling at her feet.

"Yeah. It was just an accident. I tried not to break the egg." Another boy said, also sounding chastised.

"Fine. But you'd better show me you can do better tomorrow. I expect nothing less from two young men such as yourselves." Midnight replied, snapping her flogger once to make her point. The boys scurried off, causing her to smile.

Ahh, the vitality of youth. I don't think I'll ever get enough of it.